Democracy needs that news media that provide in-depth and well-researched coverage of a diversity of political perspectives, as I argued in Media Bias & Democracy I. Attempts to ensure impartiality have been most often become a formula for presentation of two sides around a very small and shifting “centre”. Traditionally the UK print press aimed for objectivity, while TV news and current affairs, led by the BBC, aimed for impartiality. As Brian McNair explains inNews and Journalism in the UK: A Textbook 5th edit(2009), these are impossible ideals, that should be aimed for, but will never be totally achieved. As the UK Ofcom reported in 2007 (McNair, p37), the rules established a while back to ensure impartiality in the news, when media and communication technologies were less diverse, may now be counter-productive:

This may have fostered a middle-of-the-road culture in mainstream news. Views that do not fit easily within a conventional, two-sided debate can struggle to be heard, resulting in a discussion round a narrow perceived fulcrum.

In NZ and elsewhere, the increased corporate dominance of, and commercialisation of the news media since the 1980s has foregrounded “neoliberal” values of infotainment and individualism, further undermining objectivity and impartiality. In the case of the main television news “impartiality” has long been implemented by a narrow idea of the “presentation of both sides of an argument”. As argued by Stuart Hall back in 1976*, this has most often become narrowed into the default position of the two sides being associated with the perspectives of the two main political parties. This creates a centre point, that becomes the neutral position, presented as natural, masking the way it is constructed. This is particularly true for coverage of contentious or disputed issues such as AGW/climate change. And any views outside this centre point, to the left or right, are labelled negatively as “extreme”.

Various kinds of bias are evident in the MSM coverage of politics and current events. This goes beyond just ensuring the presentation of two sides of an issue, and includes factors like:

selection bias (of issues to report on, as well as aspects of the issue selected)

how often an issue and/or view is reported (within one media outlet, or across several outlets)

inadequate fact-checking

The ratings driven values of infotainment result in individualised, headline-grabbing reports of human dramas and catastrophes. These are most usually expressed in simplified narrative terms: crime, disasters, political conflicts (usually between politicians) etc. Little background is given to the political dramas so that policy issues get reduced to sound bites – the slicker the better. We saw this in the coverage of the 2012 Labour Conference where the 2 sides were presented as a drama between Shearer and Cunliffe, mediated by journalists like Patrick Gower. Cunliffe was asked for his position (so the non-partisan prescription of presenting 2 sides was covered). However, presented within the infotainment format, Cunliffe was presented as the villain and Shearer the good guy. This was aided by Team Shearer leaking their demonisation of Cunliffe to the media. This view of Cunliffe was mostly presented uncritically.

Journalists did not do an in-depth and far-reaching investigation into what was happening at the conference. Consequently the ground breaking democratisation and empowerment of the membership was marginalised, if mentioned at all. The deeper and more significant story wasn’t about individuals that could be expressed in simple sound-bites. It was about the will of the collective, the decades long frustration at the hi-jacking of the Labour Party by Rogernomics etc.

These days, the Labour caucus tends to create policy with the intention of firstly presenting it to the MSM. They talk to potential voters through this filter. Some party members, and left blog posters and commenters are now contesting this. This is the sign of a significant shift, resulting form worrying changes in people’s circumstances, in these uncertain times. The result is a struggle to determine the appropriate and necessary left wing direction.

Some of this is done in a way that aims to close down discussion by smearing left wing bloggers and commenters who are critical of the current Labour Caucus. This was seen in the discussion (allegedly) “from the left and from the right” on RNZ’s Nine-to-Noon programme yesterday. Matthew Hooton and Mike Williams were huddled around the “centre” ground, which is loosely aligned with the current Labour caucus and the public face of the Key led government. In keeping with this kind of MSM positioning, the solid left wing critiques expressed on The Standard, were labelled as “extremism” written by “nutters”. The diversity of left wing views presented on this blog was ignored, lumped into smears associating such views with the old Alliance Party and Cunliffe supporters.

Since the 1980s, it has been difficult for Labour parties to get favourable coverage of their traditional policies and values in the MSM. Such policies include a focus on collective action, the interests of those on relatively low incomes (workers and beneficiaries), fair employment conditions and pay, adequate social security, etc. When Labour parties have been elected into government, it is by not straying too far from the artificial centre created by the corporate MSM. However, sooner or later the MSM will switch back to the party/ies that more strongly favour the elite, as seen with Tony Blair’s government eventually falling out of favour.

Initially Murdoch and his press supported Tony Blair mainly because there was a shift in the views of MSM consumers away from the then Tory government. New Labour also courted Murdoch by “signaling that it would provide him with a sympathetic business environment should it win the election“. in 2008, with another consumer shift, Murdoch shifted back to his more sympathetic allegiance with the UK Conservative Party (McNair p.51).

McNair argues that press barons like Murdoch are losing their influence and consumers gaining more power, aided by the access to the diversity of news that has expanded on the Web. However, McNair doesn’t account for what followed once the likes of Cameron and Key gained power. All the gentle, slow shifts by the Labour governments away from hard core “neoliberalism” are being ruthlessly undone. Harsher, more divisive and punitive austerity measures are being brought in, savaging the less well-off in favour of the elites.

Each time governments shift from Tory to Labour and back again, the centre is moved further to the right. The only way to truly break the “neoliberal” consensus is for the flax roots to cut out the MSM middle-people and engage directly with the politicians. It’s encouraging that the Labour membership are taking a strong lead in this. Engagement and campaigning from below is a multi-pronged affair that also requires engagement with local communities and individuals. Some can be done online (e.g. on left wing blogs), but this also also needs to be in association with an ongoing range of offline events where people can exchange ideas and experiences face-to-face.

OK….was just wondering – I used to tutor in MS sometimes – until I struck some marking manipulations (not something I was prepared to indulge in – but characteristic of shit that happens these days).
Btw… as I said elsewhere, I will do my BEST not to comment on here ‘cos that’s what I promised (lol) after I criticised some pathetic munter that deserved all he got. I understand the rules tho. So if it comes down to shutting up or expressing an opinion – mine is no better than the next person.
Really tho’ – there are some complete fuckwits that need to be challenged, so at times – I just can’t help mesef

We’ve moved beyond that, Tim. There’s no problem in expressing any views opposed to that of TS authors, or anyone else here. I think you misunderstood my comment back then. It is just personal abuse directed at authors that is against policy.

Yep @ Karol. I probably did misread you at the time. I frequently misplace my reading glasses too. That, combined with the fact that every time I see a van with something like “Smith & Smith Shopfitters” on the side, I misread it as “shoplifters” so it’s quite likely I missed your point completely at the time.

Karol’s correct – it wasn’t about you and I’m in agreement with your comment about ‘unjustified’ name calling. I’m a firm believer though in ‘what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’ – so that if the likes of Mike Williams refer to the likes of us as extremists – they lay themselves open. AS I read whoever it was, I interpreted what I saw as the comments of a wanker – I really should go back and re-read it
I am unable to speed read as I once did and I need to keep reminding myself of that.
As an aside, I’m wondering if there are others who’ve suffered some sort of trauma that’s changed their eye sight, memory processes, etc,. encounter similar.
I just did it again btw:
Blue Leopard posted “The international credit ratings agencies are a load of bunkem, which along with travesties that the Nat party require us to swallow, we seem to have to “go along” with despite the deficiency in veracity.” on “NZ economic forecast “deteriorating”” on 23 Jan at 12:10″. I misread the ‘travesties’ bit as ‘transvesites’. It probably says more about me than anything, but there ya go!
At the very least it makes life amusing however, in amongst a gubbamint that’s obviously incompetent and a-wishing and a-hoping.
I’m an infrequent reader on here, although becoming more attuned to the idea that The Standard is actually the current centre of the views of a sometimes silent (if apathetic) majority and silent ALTERNATIVE. An interloper if you like. My hope is that there’ll be more.
I do have to disagree sometimes though, and there are times I may make comment where I expect to be chastised. I mean quite obviously – Patrick Gower is a wanker (and not a very pretty one) driven by over-ambition in his field. Not exactly the Brains of Britain. – It’s an opinion! Not the Brains of Britain but driven by ambition and attuned to what he percieves as the best route -AN OPINION
I once had Duncan Garner hassling me over a certain issue after a storey till I realised how FUNDAMENTALLY dishonest that guy was as well (Mihi et al). Ditto now the Geee-on. These are simply my perceptions and opinions.
I actually don’t care if the above generates any innuendo – that is THEIR problem – they generated it. A side effect of their over-ambition
I hope Dunc and Guy are both very happy, though I wish they’d get a little more honest than they’ve been. That they’ve risen to the status as oracles in their field says more about the status of the MSM than it does about their competencies. What’s worse is that its a status that the current regime wishes to push (in spite of what I understand to be the NATURE of a democracy – including the place of a 4th Estate).
Anyway – as I'[ve said – my OPINION is no better than the next guy

Ripping news from its context is another one. Eg. Although I simply don’t watch TV any more, I’d hazard a guess that Mali is being portrayed as a part of the ‘war against terrorism’ and that no contextural framework is provided. So the fact that Salaafists are being bombed in Mali and armed in Syria (if viewers pick up on it) leads to disengagement through confusion or incomprehension. And if the contradiction in the western approach to Salaafists is missed, then an uncritical and uninformed support for western actions results.

As for the coverage of parliamentary politics, I think the ‘unofficial coalition’ of the parliamentary right and left (not just here, but in many countries), meaning that a game of tag is played (with corporate interests handicapping or backing whichever side at a given election in line with their own current preferences) ; where the reigns of economic management and social containment are assumed and riden along a ‘business as usual’ course ; where, as a result, there really is nothing to report besides tittle-tattle and attempting to present that tittle -tattle as somehow, something that underpins meaningful choice – Where am I going with this? – ah yes, back to the obvious capture of the democratic process and social democratic possibilities by corporate interests where we (the voters) play our meaningless role by anxiously deciding between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum every three years or so…or disengaging and increasingly leaving them to it without any need to present a facade.

Bill, on this thread, I have no problem with people mentioning how the MSM portrays issues other the one the ones I mentioned. it’s the main argument about skewed media “impartiality”/”objectivity” that is the focus. I aimed to illustrate it some current NZ political issues, but others would do just as well to illustrate the argument.

The coverage I have seen on Mali – largely on Al Jazeera, talks a lot about Al Qaeda links.

This post was originally meant as a response to Tim Watkin’s claim that the NZ MSM does a good job of being impartial, unlike political blogs. In his “Bloggers vs journalists” post back in mid December, he said:

Few bloggers attempt to find facts, remove their personal opinions from the story, seek balance and make contact with numerous sources before writing. Most blogs are happily biased. Most journalists do their best to remove as much bias as possible. They’re different; farmers and cowboys.

But, I agree (along with McNair in the book I quoted in my post), that full impartiality is not possible. However, Watkin seems oblivious to the shortcomings of the current MSM approach to trying to remove bias.

As such, I think it’s better for an author to openly state their political position, so that readers/viewers can include that in their judgement of the article/report/post. And, rather than focusing solely on being as impartial as possible by presenting 2 sides, journalists need to be more self-critical of the values they are representing – and to thoroughly investigate the isseu, not just rely on political press releases, “leaks”, etc.

It took me so long to get this post together, and try to (unsuccessfully) keep it short, that Watkin’s post has gone stale now. (However, the Labour Party conference, and MSM coverage of it, was a significant part of Watkin’s post.)

Sorry Karol, my comment wasn’t intended to distract from your post in any way. I agree that the myth of ‘impartiality’ or ‘objectivity’ needs to be blown out of the water. It’s a particularly pernicious myth when obvious partiality is presented as being neutral or objective (Gower was just reporting news, right?) And then there is also the effect of deliberate and straight forward omission leading to informative non-information or, put another way, the promotion and acceptance of descriptive reporting over analytical reporting and the subsequent widespread disengagement from political discussion/events.

As for writers or journalists proclaiming their allegiences or background etc, I completely agree. I remember a number of academic papers in Anthropology being preceded by the author’s openly stated political/cultural position. And that puts blogs streets ahead of many journalists insofar as a writer’s subjectivity or position becomes plain when viewing a number of posts or comments over a range of topics.

And…well, bloggers are usually quite clear when what they are offering up is opinion. And it’s quite clear that writers like yourself, in spite of what Watkins claims, actually do fact check and seek sources or back up material and that some journalists don’t. Meanwhile, journalists and bloggers are just people and as such tend to internalise orthodoxies and to rarely (if ever) examine the unquestioned assumptions that lie deep within those orthodoxies…and that leads to all types of mischief in reporting (eg Mali again)

yeah, it ends up having the effect of more “objectivity” when allegiances are stated, this way one can read/view the item with a clear knowledge of the bias.

Edit: On second thoughts, the bias is pretty bloody clear mostly anyway, and this approach of stating ones influences/bias would be more of a matter of goodwill or courtesy which would be an advantageous quality in many arenas.

bl, journalists acknowledging their biases could also help them be a little more self-aware and/or critical. At the moment many probably manage to convince themselves that they are being totally “objective”.

Bill, no need to apologise. Your comment was on topic in relation to my post, and i agree with both your comments.

I also think it’s really important for NZ political coverage, that journalists are held to account with respect to their short coming,s and that they are more open in acknowledging their political allegiances. NZ news media is far less diverse than that of the US or UK, which have a variety of known slants: e.g. UK Times compared with The Guardian or Independent.

Our MSM, all tends to follow a similar, middle-of-the-road line, and seem to believe that they are being “objective” or “impartial” in their news coverage.

We can get more diversity in coverage of international politics and news, but less diversity in the coverage of NZ politics.

This reminds me of the following quote from the McNair book linked to in my post:

The editor of one of Britain’s (and the world’s) leading journalistic organisations, The Guardian, put this pragmatism well when he noted that ‘the newspaper that drops on your doorstep is a partial, hasty, incomplete, inevitably somewhat flawed and inaccurate rendering of some of the things we have heard about in the last 24 hours.’.

So, apart from anything else, I think blogs can play an important role in holding the NZ MSM to account.

A very thorough and detailed piece, karol. The way Labour has used, over-used and failed to use the MSM in an advantageous way is a topic that could have its own dedicated post. What I feel we need now is a coherant strategy to extend the reach of The Standard, maybe even explore deliberately increasing the objective journalistic/news analysis components it now has hints of.

Regarding Murdoch in the UK, there was/is also the circle of corrupt symbiosis between media, police and government, which was partly exposed by the phone hacking scandal. The evolution of that is a global attempt by government and media to suppress alternative sources of information using narratives such as “trolling”, “cyber-bullying”, “abuse of anonymity” and the like.

Thanks. And yes, I agree with your comment, Rich. Also the phone hacking scandal has led to the Leveson inquiry recommending self-regulation by the media. The impact of media concentration under the ownership of a small number of large corporates is left untouched.

The MSM has long been antagonistic to the Internet. It tends to highlight and sensationalise problems, and marginalise the good aspects of it. As well as the topics you mention, Rich, some of their favourite topics are child pornography, bullying among school pupils, hoaxers, and fraudsters online.

I was struck by the message in the first paragraph, if I am understanding correctly, was that the aim of achieving impartiality may have lead to mediocrity in reporting. This strikes me as probable. Perhaps also some manipulation has been involved to push the “unintended consequence” a little further?

The articles/documentaries I most trust are ones that present both sides of an issue fairly. There really is no need for a conclusion at the end, simply a suggestion to consider the points. If this approach was followed middle-of-the-road items would be a thing of the past.

Sadly I believe big money is having an influence on this issue, where one side of an item will be played down to big money’s advantage; is a pity that big money is having such an impact on every aspect of our lives. Money is supposed to be our servant; not our master.

Thank goodness for the internet creating more diversity in information sources.

blue leaopard: I was struck by the message in the first paragraph, if I am understanding correctly, was that the aim of achieving impartiality may have lead to mediocrity in reporting. This strikes me as probable. Perhaps also some manipulation has been involved to push the “unintended consequence” a little further?

The focus on impartiality coupled with less focus on the kind of investigative reporting that Hager talked about, has undermined quality. A large influence on the shift to mediocrity has been the pursuit of profit, and the commericalisation of public service broadcasting (the BBC, for instance, has increasingly aimed to be commerically competitive in various ways). This means cutting back on the number of journalists, sub-editors, etc; less use of “on the ground” reporting and more reliance on press releases and links; less fact checking etc.

…so basically my suspicions are confirmed; that the degeneration has to do with money.

I do wonder about this “commercially competitive” concept. When we had a few channels, with some informative programmes on (Stratos, TV7, SBS 1&2), it struck me that perhaps “commercially competitive” was not what I once had thought it to be.

I had thought it to mean playing programmes that lots of people watch, therefore the commercials inbetween the programme breaks (humour) were more effective (i.e. created sales for the advertisers).

On having watched a particularly thought-provoking programme or two, and then switched over to something on the brain-dead side of things-on one of the other “commercial” channels-it suddenly occurred to me, that perhaps its not the amount of people watching these programmes, it is that “commercial programmes” get your mind into a type of almost hypnotised stupor, which then leads the adverts to be more effective?

This is certainly not the case with a thought-provoking programme, which switches one’s mind on into a more discerning mode.

… scheduling delivers programmes to audiences when they are most likely to watch them, and delivers audiences to advertisers in the composition that makes their advertising most likely to be effective.

So partly that means the aim is to attract the audiences the advertisers think they will be most able to sell their product/services to. But maybe your idea of also making the mind more open to the advertisers message could be considered to be part of that.

On having watched a particularly thought-provoking programme or two, and then switched over to something on the brain-dead side of things-on one of the other “commercial” channels-it suddenly occurred to me, that perhaps its not the amount of people watching these programmes, it is that “commercial programmes” get your mind into a type of almost hypnotised stupor, which then leads the adverts to be more effective?

Yes, well put. Advertising goes beyond just the number of people watching a TV programme, in addition, the TV show must foster individualistic desires which resonate with capitalism, and also target certain groups.
For example, many of our current TV shows focus on individualism and consumption, but they tend to target age groups specifically. The TV shows promoting property fix-ups / makeovers is aimed at babyboomers who control a large percentage of the property market, and have money to spare. At the younger generation the products promoted are often new technologies which have a short shelf-life, and will need re-buying soon.
Cribs on MTV and the house renovating programmes on TV both hit the jackpot on the ignorance scale…both promote capitalist desires at such a dumb level that a sledgehammer through the screen should be seen as a logical response. They are nothing more than well planned vehicles for selling us dumb shit that we don’t need. Our so called news is no different, same subtle message can be seen on TV1 or TV3 at 7pm every week night.
I’ve recently been watching some Adam Curtis documentaries which examine these issues…the way our news and popular culture is shaped for a reason. Many of Adam Curtis’ docos are on youtube or can be streamed other places – they don’t get shown on TV much. The Century of Self

Yeah, its really very horrible what is going on.
It is horrible that there are so many people still open to this shite.
What can we do about it 🙁

I will have to get my hands on that Adam Curtis doco, I enjoyed the “All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace”, perhaps didn’t agree with some of the conclusions, yet presented in a way that inspired thought. Great stuff! Just the type of item that would be good to see on our TV channels. (Can’t remember which it was on, perhaps SBS 1 or 2, which seemed to have some pretty informative programmes on, the calibre of which TV 7 never really came close to).

Am wondering what happened to the move to get TV7 back on, and also was it David Beatson (can’t remember) who was looking into creating a private owned TV channel?

Perhaps, if Beatson organized “Face TV” to happen, it would be what I was referring to; I believe he was looking into setting something up…around the time of TV7 going down the gurgler….I’ll do a google search!

Yes, effective move by Sky. Freeview was great when I first got it; unbelievable how many channels have been lost! What a rip-off!

When ‘Money’ became the single biggest barrier to a significant number of people throughout the world being able to obtain things that should fall into the category of ‘needs’ for a human being, it stopped serving its purpose in my book.

I do believe that MSM needs (for the good of humanity) to keep going down the path that it is. It is this very path which is seeing more and more people disenfranchised with MSM content and as a result seeking out alternative and better news sources such as RT and blogs. MSM know this only too well hence the venom spewed in the direction of the blogisphere late last year.
One of the best things I ever did was to sell my TV (after a safety period of moving it into the next room just in case… :). Never before felt so liberated.
This is another area where the best thing that people can do is to stop participating. There are far more interesting news sources out there. Coverage on Aaron Swartz has yet again confirmed this for me.

A very thoughtful post. I read it three times and each time my understanding grew. It could be just as much part of a Political Studies or Sociology discussion paper as much as it could be a blog post.

You have very gently summed up a number of problems with the MSM.

I am particularly perplexed by yesterday’s Radio New Zealand politics “discussion” on Radio New Zealand. The tentacles of political control run deep when a supposedly “socialist” media outlet can present such tripe.

Hooten is nothing more than a paid hack. Why any media organisation with a modicum of fact checking would use him is beyond me. And I cannot understand why the state owned media outlet which is supposedly there to present quality analysis of the news should put up with his stuff.

Mike Williams I have a great deal of respect as a political campaigner and former party president. But he is too ensconced in the Wellington bubble and sees politics far too much like a game of chess played by Wellington operatives than something that should be argued in neighbourhoods and communities and amongst ordinary people.

They are both trapped by the supposed rules of the game. It sort of makes you want Mana to succeed so that the current rules could be shown to be irrelevant …

Thanks, micky. I think the post ended up a bit more academic than I wanted it to be. Part of the reason it took so long to write was because I was trying to make it a bit more blog-friendly: shorter, while also being clear and to the point. In the end, I just decided to go with what I had.

Yes, I agree that Mike Williams & Matthew Hooton seem trapped in the rules of the game. Listening to the Nine-to-Noon discussion, it seemed to me that Williams used his experiences with Labour under the Clark government as a guide on how to proceed. I did understand at the time that pressures from the powerful elites (inside and outside NZ), and the MSM made it difficult for the Clark government to bring back any policies that were very much to the left of the “centre”.

However, I think circumstances and knowledge have changed since the Clark years. There’s the GFC repercussions, and there’s the example of what current right wing governments are doing, here and in the UK. I think the best way forward for the left, is to break with the strategies developed by the Labour caucus and staff during the Clark years. And the best way to do that is through a genuine engagement with the membership, and through that, with the wider NZ population.

To Karol : and Mickey Savage : ” The only way to truly break the “neoliberal” consensus is for the flax roots to cut out the MSM middle-people and engage directly with the politicians…… Engagement and campaigning from below is a multi-pronged affair that also requires engagement with local communities and individuals. Some can be done online (e.g. on left wing blogs), but this also also needs to be in association with an ongoing range of offline events where people can exchange ideas and experiences face-to-face.”

But only if all participants are willing. And so far I haven’t seen much sign of such “willing” on the part of David Shearer and his mates. Has anyone seen any answers to questions from Labour members/ supporters on the David Shearer Facebook ? If so, could you let me know how to access them please.

Plus – it might yet happen – but despite requests, its extremely difficult to get face-to-face
with Mr Shearer. He has his minders all around him to protect him from the rank/n/file Labour members who might question him about his actual beliefs !

Your formulae of how media bias is applied can be observed daily in New Zealand and reflects the effect of Australian interest and political intent here . Given the preponderant ownership in banking retail tourisim and of course media it would seem self evident that Australian born editors sub-editors are delivering the message agreed in board rooms across the Tasman to serve the interests of Australian buisiness and political influence here . It must be remembered that almost the entire print media here is owned by Fairfax and APN in their own country these companies are dedicated to the promotion of neo-liberal agendas their intent here is exactly the same .

Well written, I completely agree. As somebody who worked in a major New Zealand newsroom, I was exposed to just how biased and sensationalist they can be. On occasions I was asked to re-hash the same story on Winston Peters for example, to divert attention from National Party failings. The words of my producer when I mentioned a particular development regarding John Key in the lead-up to the 2008 election was, “Don’t say that about Mr Key, he’s a good man. Now you write about Winston Peters and Owen Glenn, I can’t stand him”. I was astounded. I would receive the same information as other reporters and producers and I could see how their stories were structured to take a particular position – I left soon after the election. The reality of that particular newsroom was that most of them were privately educated, lived on the North Shore, St Mary’s Bay or Herne Bay and there was also a strong conservative christian element. I now work for a much larger and more reputable media institution in the UK and have found the way British media own their perspective refreshing – as you mentioned you know what you’re getting with The Guardian, The Times, Independent etc. Exactly how can this issue be taken to the mainstream population though? When I discuss this with friends, they don’t understand how the news can be anything but the news – they take the word of institutions such as the Herald, TVNZ & Stuff.co.nz as law. Are there societies where reporters/MSM publications are forced to declare their perspective? Personally I think Auckland needs a centre-left newspaper – not just a website, but something tangible.

It is always most enlightening when someone shares their direct experience on something like this. Horrible to hear, yet helps to really accept what is going on, and that it is going on.
Thanks very much Tony

It proves, what I have experienced. Indeed, I have over time, tried to interest certain media persons to pay attention to particular bits of actually quite exposing, interesting information, but I was shocked, how they simply did never bothered to take up any of it, and to not write something about it.

What you have written now proves to me without any shade of a doubt, NZ mainstream media, and even public media like TVNZ and Radio NZ, are rotten and useless to the core.

To get real news, it is essential to visit a number of various blogsites, social media outlets, alternative media, plus of course some of the mainstream media. Also one needs to do own research of otherwise available information. Then disect it, read between the lines and pick the info that is really relevant.

I have NO real trust in NZ newsprint, television and radio anymore. They serve us what certain key decisionmakers want us to hear and see, mostly nothing of substance though.

I agree, we all need to use multiple sources of information and read between the lines, but I don’t agree that NZ institutions like TVNZ and Radio NZ are rotten to the core. True they might have lost their way a little, but there are still good journalists within these organisations. There are liberal line-up producers and duty editors who can influence the structure and content of a newspaper or bulletin, but in reality they are outnumbered.

I think the biggest problem with NZ’s “state” broadcasters is that they are too heavily influenced by a change of Government. Within months of National being voted into power in 2008 there were heavy and influential changes within organisations which affected content, editorial and political neutrality. In the UK the BBC is run by a royal charter that is fixed for 10 year periods – in New Zealand the government has far too much direct control over “public” news media.

Thanks, Tony, for describing your experiences. I agree that the left needs a newspaper that includes a website (as most papers do these days). But it also needs a TV channel, or several programmes on an existing channel (plus programmes available online ondemand), because many people get most of their news and political information from the screens.

I’d be a part of that! The problem is investment Karol – television channels are incredibly costly to set-up and to run. However I do believe there is a market for it. Some here might think it’s a dirty concept, but it would need to operate within a commercial environment – it’s not the type of project that would receive funding. The future is through cloud-based on demand services anyway, however New Zealand is so far beyond with regards to broadband infrastructure that it will occur slower down under than the rest of the world… thanks Telecom!

In saying that, such services need time to grow and develop audiences so strike while the iron is hot! I’ve been thinking along these lines for some time but lack the required resources.

Boy you people have analyzed the msm with great insight Thankyou all . I have a slight obsession with fact checking all i watch and read. Manipulation of fact is so alarming in Media ,some cases of this is pure inept reporting . Regurgitating others work is a common cause. Bias is obviously there.Small media groups as we have here, are so disheartening.{leave intellect at door] Some isolated cases are outstanding . Fox news network makes me happy…. yes HAPPY. The absolute bias refreshing ,you have expectancy for nothing apart from there distorted view . Pure joy .just sit back and bask in pure Batshit. Keep up your good debate thanks “Standards”

An impressive summary of the state of the media and its impact and influence on public opinion and democracy as such! I congratulate you, Karol, I could not have written anything better with such limited words and sentences.

Yes, the media is kind of part of the inert kind of “establishment” now, whether corporate, privately owned and operated media, or whether still in some form state or non-state (by any NGO – or privately operated on a not for profit basis) owned “public” media.

Social media now occupies a kind of special area, or rather areas, depending on who runs it, and what views and informations get presented.

State run public media are overseen by boards, so party politics does in some forms come into play, who is allowed to sit on a board, who has which leaning, which affiliations and so forth. And hence in virtually all western democracies – and the public media in them (traditionally usually television and radio) – the “centre” has become the focus point, or the “balancing” point, around which reporting, broadcasting in general is now run. Add a “commercial” aspect like advertising being done to partially earn additional revenue, then another compromise takes place, by way of giving consideration to whether any broadcasting may negatively upset advertisers.

Corporate media, which has become the dominant privately owned and operated form of media, naturally primarily “earns” revenue through advertising to cover costs and to also earn a PROFIT for shareholders. There may be some selling of content, but that usually never reaches levels advertising “earns” those operators money.

So it can probably not be avoided, usually at least, that such privately owned and run media will give substantial considerations to the ones paying them. Those are retailers, large and small, who sell products and services. They clearly have a dominant commercial interest.

The media operators then are also driven by ratings, which means viewer numbers.

A whole society has diversity, but it is a range of interests that is behind that, and like perhaps levels of education, intelligence and cultural inclinations, there will be some larger than other segments of interested viewership. The tendency has been to cater for the numbers, and that does not necessarily, I’d say rather less likely, represent quality of information and whatever else gets broadcasted.

With the information age being a bit much for many to cope with, as people at the same time often also live in more complex work-environments, many rather want to “switch off”, relax, be entertained, than be informed with yet more, to “burden” the brain.

Hence, I think, we have what we have. A tendency for more and more light-hearted, less informative, entertaining rather than informing and educating presentation of anything on the broadcasting media.

Print media have their own challenges, and with the internet, they are cutting costs to levels, where no journalist is given time and pay, to spend too much on investigations and research. So the “news-releases” in the email inbox are the focus now.

A worrying scenario and development, but forums and social media sites like TS are now the opportunity to add spice and new diversity and quality to what is on offer.

Yes, it is a worrying scenario, xtasy. And, yes, the dominance of corporate media and its level of saturation is a major problem. Apart from anything else the entertainment arm of it constantly promotes the individualistic, meritocracy message, making it seem that it is someone’s own fault if they are unable to earn a living wage. Public service broadcasting, can, and should, also air a wide range of entertainment programmes, including ones that focus more on the collective aspects of community and society.

It’s necessary to have this diversity. This article provides evidence that there is more diversity in public service broadcasting in the US, Europe and UK, than in commercial broadcasting in those countries/regions. It also argues that the state always interferes in broadcasting, whether or not it is public service. So they say the important thing is to not throw out the baby with the bath water, but work on ensuring the content of public service broadcasting is free from state interference: e.g. being able to be critical of the government and status quo .

I have heard Peter Thompson (NZ’s leading academic on public service broadcasting) say that there are ways to ensure the state does not interfere in the production and broadcast of public service broadcasting. In this article Thompson considers the development of our current broadcasting environment and provisions. He concludes that the last Labour government, with its “third way” agenda, did nothing to end the dominance of “neoliberal” dominance in the media. The media were not “permitted” to lead “informed public debate” on the need to reform the media.

So it really needs a bold Labour-led government to more totally away from a “neoliberal”, “third way” approach, to ensure the development of a more diverse MSM: one focused on open debate, presenting a wide a range of political views, and in the interests of the general public.

That is all very interesting reading material that you have suggested, and it is impressive and convincing, as a brief glance and perusal tells me.

Yes, I know that much of Europe (North, West and Central) has much better public media than NZ, and also in the UK, a bit less so in Canada and the US, similarly Japan, the situation is better than here.

Reading that analysis by the two authors that wrote for New York University, it shows how appalling the public broadcast media in NZ has become, due to being cut back and forced to work under impossible conditions. It is a damning report they present.

I have not read the piece by Thompson in detail and will see if I have time to do so later.

Thanks Tony for the rare insiders insight few journalists are prepared tp speak out about the constraints placed on their independence and objectivity in New Zealands media .

Clearly the effect of corporate ownership on editorial policy extant in western media is also rampamt in this country .However it should be noted that New Zealand faces a unique situation in that ownership of print media here by the APN -Fairfax duopoly creates a perception of an unhealthy conflict of interest stemming from their status as corpoarate news organisations domiciled in Australia – the country which holds the biggest forign corporate investment in our economy

I cant think of a country which holds the dubious luxury of exercising such expansive corporate dominance in another country while owning in entirety the print media of its host . Can we imagine Australians suffering the same situation in reverse – not bloody likely mate ! .

The question should be answered – what is the nature of Australian buisiness political and media interest here Are APN and Fairfax simply exploiting a normal business opportunity or does a wider agenda exist which New Zealanders should know about .

The situation of media ownership in New Zealand definitely warrants public discussion and ivestigation . Unfortunately this is unlikely to be instigated by the Australian dominated Boards of Directors or editors sourced from accross the ditch currently opperating our metropolatan and provincial papers

Never the less there is growing concern from those among us who still harbour aspirations of national independence and seek protection of New Zealands sovereign status

When the Hortons Riddefords ect held sway in our print media its central political objective was to attack the ambitions of labour and defend the interests of business. Somehow the fact that they were integrated with a cabal of local business and the National Party made it a little more acceptable .

But a print media which is part of a forign corpoarte cluster exercising a deep and powerful penetration of New Zealands buisiness sector begs the question where has this taken us and exactly what implications does this situation hold for our culture social aspirations and our sovereignty.

The facile individual currently occupying the role of Prime Minister here has stated his prefference for political union with Australia – fully aware that the prospect is repugnant to most Kiwi’s . But union with Australia may become irrelevant if Australian dominance of our buisiness sector continues its accelerating trajectory . With the valuable support of a sympathetic Australian owned media why bother with the un-predictabilities of a messy political conflagration.

The social profiles of media colleagues contained in Tonys post was a telling point . At the same time chilling in its connotations of how easily the sectional interests of middle-class proffessionals can dominate a critical social need such as the fourth estate .

Perhaps the time is apposite for the invisible movers and shakers of media governance and management in New Zealand to come into the light and explain exactly what their political and social preferences and intentions are . And how those predications mesh with the interests and emerging social profiles and aspirations of New Zealanders . .

Completely agree – reporters, producers and news outlets should show more ownership of their editorial and declare their support or personal interest rather than hide behind a false claim of “objectivity”.

by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...

From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...

by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...

The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...

. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...

Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...

The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...

Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...

When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...

Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...

by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...

The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...

By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...

Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...

There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...

Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...

By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...

I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...

Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...

Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...

Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...

This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...

Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...

An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...

There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...

Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...

During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...

Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...

Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...

As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...

Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...

Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...

by Daphna Whitmore Every Sunday for the past two months unionists from First Union, with supporters from other unions, have set out to the Ihumatao land protest, put up gazebos and gas barbeques, and cooked food for a few hundred locals and supporters who have come from across the country. ...

Newsroom today has an excellent, in-depth article on pine trees as carbon sinks. The TL;DR is that pine is really good at soaking up carbon, but people prefer far-less efficient native forests instead. Which is understandable, but there's two problems: firstly, we've pissed about so long on this problem that ...

Canan Kaftancioglu is a Turkish politician and member of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Like most modern politicians, she tweets, and uses the platform to criticise the Turkish government. She has criticised them over the death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a tear gas grenade during ...

Hi there, just call me Tim.We face tough problems, and I’d like to help, because there are solutions.An Auckand District Health Board member has nominated me for as a candidate for the ADHB, because her MS-related pain and fatigue is reduced with hemp products from Rotorua. Nothing else helped her. If I ...

The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has published their report on whether the SIS and GCSB had any complicity in American torture. And its damning. The pull quote is this:The Inquiry found both agencies, but to a much greater degree, the NZSIS, received many intelligence reports obtained from detainees who, ...

Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...

For most of the time I was a British MP, my party was out of government – these were the Thatcher years, when it was hard for anyone else to get a look-in. As a front-bencher and shadow minister, I became familiar with the strategies required in a parliamentary democracy ...

by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh On August 29th a video in which veteran FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commander Iván Márquez announced that they had taken up arms again was released. There was no delay in the reaction to it, from longtime Liberal Party figure and former president Uribe, for ...

Air New Zealand couldn’t believe its luck that this seemingly ideal piece of real estate had so far gone entirely unnoticed. Air New Zealand’s search for a site to build a second Auckland Airport may have made a breakthrough this afternoon, after employees scanning Google satellite imagery spotted a huge, ...

No-one on the anti-capitalist left in this country today puts forward a case that Labour is on the side of the working class. There are certainly people who call themselves ‘socialist’ who do, but they are essentially liberals with vested interests in Labourism – often for career reasons. Nevertheless, there ...

When National was in government and fucking over the poor for the benefit of the rich, foodbanks were a growth industry. And now Labour is in charge, nothing has changed: A huge demand for emergency food parcels means the Auckland City Mission is struggling to prepare for the impending arrival ...

Gayford, pictured here on The Project, before things got wildly out of control. A bold public relations move by the Government to encourage parents to vaccinate their children has gone horribly wrong. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on tonight’s episode of Three’s The Project, where the plan was for her ...

Mr. Whippy’s business model has driven it down a dark road of intimidation. Residents in major centres around the country are becoming disgruntled by the increasingly aggressive actions of purported ice cream company Mr. Whippy, who have taken to parking on people’s front lawns and doorsteps in a desperate attempt ...

Today the government released its Action Plan for Healthy Waterways, aimed at cleaning up our lakes and rivers. Its actually quite good. There will be protection for wetlands, better standards for swimming spots, a requirement for continuous improvement, and better standards for wastewater and stormwater. But most importantly, there's a ...

Today I appeared before the Environment Committee to give an oral submission on the Zero Carbon Bill. Over 1,500 people have asked to appear in person, so they've divided into subcommittees and are off touring the country, giving people a five minute slot each. The other submitters were a mixed ...

Anti-fluoride activists have some wealthy backers – they are erecting billboards misrepresenting the Canadian study on many New Zealand cities – and local authorities are ordering their removal because of their scaremongering. Many New Zealanders ...

So, those who “know best” have again done their worst. While constantly claiming to be the guardians of democracy and the constitution, and respecters of the 2016 referendum result, diehard Remainers (who have never brought themselves to believe that their advice could have been rejected) have striven might and main ...

Following publication of this article, the Ministry has requested it to be noted that this supplied image is not necessarily representative of what the final house will look like, and it “probably won’t be that nice.” As part of today’s long-anticipated reset of the Government’s flagship KiwiBuild policy, Housing Minister ...

Over the next week or two we will be running three synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Marx began Capital not with a sweeping historical ...

The State Services Commission and Ombudsman have released another batch of OIA statistics, covering the last six months. Request volumes are up, and the core public service is generally handling them within the legal timeframe, though this may be because they've learned to extend rather than just ignore things. And ...

In 1994, I was editing an ambitious street mag called Planet, from a fabled office at at 309 Karangahape Road. The thirteenth issue of the magazine was published in the winter of that year and its cover embodied a particularly ambitious goal: the end of cannabis prohibition.I wanted to do ...

KiwiBuild was one of the Ardern government's core policies. The government would end the housing crisis and make housing affordable again by building 100,000 new homes. Of course, it didn't work out like that: targets weren't met, the houses they did build were in the wrong place, and the whole ...

As the climate crisis escalates, it is now obvious that we need to radically decarbonise our economy. The good news is that its looking easy and profitable for the energy sector. Wind is already cheaper than fossil fuels, and now solar is too:The levellised cost of solar PV has fallen ...

A Crown Asset? For reasons relating to its own political convenience, the Crown pretends to believe that “No one owns the water.” To say otherwise would re-vivify the promises contained in the Treaty of Waitangi – most particularly those pertaining to the power of the chiefs and their proprietary rights ...

Most people would say, no doubt, that they have a pretty good idea of what money is. They live with the reality of money every day. It is what is needed to buy the necessities of life and to maintain a decent standard of living. You get money, they would ...

The article below was an opinion piece that appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of Te Awa (the NZ Green Party’s newsletter) and on the Greens website. In keeping with their policy of hostility to women defending women’s right to female-only spaces, Green bureaucrats have since removed the opinion piece. ...

Longer term readers may remember my complaining that, as a political scientist, it is burdensome to have non-political scientists wanting to engage me about politics. No layperson would think to approach an astrophysicist and lecture him/her on the finer details of quarks and black holes, but everybody with an opinion ...

Joining The Fight: Stevan Eldred-Grigg's argument for New Zealand staying out of the Second World War fails not only on the hard-headed grounds of preserving the country’s strategic and economic interests; and not just on the soft-hearted grounds of duty and loyalty to the nation that had given New Zealand ...

On September 27, School Strike 4 Climate will be striking for a future to pressure the government for meaningful climate action. This time, they've asked adults to join them. And now, Lincoln University and Victoria University of Wellington have signed on:Victoria University of Wellington has joined Lincoln University in endorsing ...

Another day, another constitutional outrage in the UK. This time, the government is saying that if parliament passes a law to stop Brexit before being prorogued, they may just ignore it:A senior cabinet minister has suggested Boris Johnson could defy legislation to prevent a no-deal Brexit if it is forced ...

Dum-de-doo. Children across New Zealand have known him for generations as the lovable giraffe who tells them to exercise, hydrate and not to shove lit cigarettes up their nostrils. But a world renowned giraffe expert says we shouldn’t be getting attached to Life Education’s Harold the Giraffe, as he is ...

By Mike Hosking. Yesterday morning, I waltzed into work, and as I walked past the drones aggressively typing out news on the computers I’ve repeatedly asked to be moved further away from, I caught a glimpse of the words “climate change”, and noticed that suspiciously they weren’t in condescending quotation ...

Share this:

Related

Share this:

Related

National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett spent the week claiming a serious cover-up in the Prime Minister's office. She used parliamentary privilege to name three of the Prime Minister's closest advisors who, she says, knew about the sexual assault ...

“The Game Animal Council is concerned that the Government’s second tranche of firearms legislation released today may contain unreasonable provisions that will unfairly impact hunters,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...

Government policy work on the Carbon Zero bill highlights connections between climate change, carbon sequestration and agriculture. Water quality and allocation are also topical with the release of the Draft Policy Statement for Freshwater Management ...

DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming this afternoon’s announcement that consultation on Essential Freshwater has been extended by two weeks - but is calling on the Minister to go further. ...

Immigration New Zealand could really benefit from an large investment of money, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the immigration sector. “Instead of spending $25m ...

In recent times there has been no shortage of commentary regarding whistleblowers, with the proposed amendments to the Protected Disclosures Act 2000. These are aimed at strengthening the protection available to whistleblowers in New Zealand. That ...

Gun Control NZ strongly welcomes the comprehensive gun law reform bill and calls on all political parties to support it. Gun Control NZ encourages New Zealanders to let their MPs know they support this Bill, submit to the Select Committee, and ...

Federated Farmers agrees with most of the steps by government to protect people from illegal or irresponsible firearms use. But concerns about pest control and the effectiveness of a register remain. ...

Today at Parliament the NZ Drug Foundation released Taking control of cannabis: A model for responsible regulation, a new report that shows how we can take back control of cannabis from organised crime. ...

Smoking kills 5,000 Kiwis each year, so any government policies to help reduce smoking are a good thing. However, the current approaches are not working nor will the proposed limit on flavoured e-liquid that Associate Minister Salesa announced on the news ...

A petition, that promises a significant and dramatic improvement for the New Zealand economy, was handed to Dr Deborah Russell, the MP for New Lynn today. The petition, signed by over 5,000 New Zealanders addresses our crippling level of debt as well ...

The New Zealand Medical Association welcomes the announcement of an Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. We look forward to working with the newly appointed Chair Hayden Wano and the Commission. “It is vital that the steps to mental health ...

For anyone who even randomly follows the news will know that Hong Kong has been embroiled in demonstrations for months. These sometimes bloody demonstrations initially started as a result of a proposed Extradition Bill whereby there would be special ...

The release yesterday of Port Otago’s financial result for 2019, outlining a 12% increase and profits, including the news that the Chief Executive had received a $100,000 pay increase taking his remuneration to between $610,000-620,000, is like ...

“ I continue to be amazed at the incompetence of this Government when it comes to suicide prevention and mental health. Not only is this Government about to appoint a regional coroner who has a history of under reporting suicides amongst children ...

The Far North District Council (FNDC) and the Whangarei District Council (WDC) have lodged a joint appeal against the Northland Regional Council’s (NRC) omission of precautionary rules in its plan. [1] ...

The Chairman of the Authority, Judge Colin Doherty, has agreed to assist the Hong Kong Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) as a member of an international panel to provide high level advice to the IPCC in relation to its proposed "Thematic ...

“Putting families into motels is a temporary fix for desperate situations, rather than a sustainable solution to problems of poverty and homelessness,” says Scott Figenshow, Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa. He was commenting on media ...

The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) says the current partial strike by 600 psychologists working in district health boards is a sign that temporary fixes to ongoing workforce shortages in the profession are not working. ...

New Zealand’s contribution to military operations in Malaya and Malaysia from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s will be commemorated in a national service held at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park at 11.00am on Monday 16 September. ...

The resignation of the President of the Labour Party over the sex pest allegations was inevitable. It was inevitable because of his appalling handling of the situation so far; and, because in situations like this where there has to be a “fall guy” ...

Yesterday Hon Grant Robertson Minister of Finance issued a welcome ‘clear directive’ in the press to ensure every Government considers the wellbeing of New Zealanders when creating future budgets . ...

The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa has written to Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters today urging that New Zealand condemn the Israeli Prime Minister’s planned annexation of vast tracts of the occupied West Bank of Palestine. ...

Today Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence (NPM) releases its next Te Arotahi paper calling on government to pay even closer attention to the issues of whānau and whakapapa within the criminal justice system. ...

“Technology adoption supports higher productivity growth, higher income growth and increased resources to pay for the things New Zealanders’ value. But the main problem facing New Zealand today isn’t too much technology, it’s not enough,” ...

Federated Farmers is asking nicely - please can the Government immediately extend the timeframe of the Essential Freshwater consultation so we can find a pathway forward that provides for both the health of the water, the health of people and the health ...

Youthline applauds the Government’s commitment to boosting mental health and addiction programmes and its intention to establish a Suicide Prevention Office but we urge swifter action in relation to implementing the programmes announced in the last budget ...

Share this:

Related

An Auckland mayoral candidate has broken the internet* by announcing a plan for a monorail around the central city. Who is Craig Lord, and is he serious? Alex Braae spoke to him shortly after his campaign launch to find out.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. ...

Antibiotics are becoming increasingly less effective, so what treatments can we use when the drugs stop working? With help from plant extracts, award-winning company HerbScience is set to breathe new life into how we treat bacterial infections.When Cynthia Hunefeld was just 10 years old, her father was hospitalised with a ...

For some, it symbolises the very backbone of New Zealand’s food culture. But can Kiwi onion dip survive after the factory that makes reduced cream is shut down?The Australian factory that makes Nestlé reduced cream, an integral ingredient in Kiwi onion dip, is shutting down, casting a shadow over the ...

Every year Matariki X brings Māori innovators and entrepreneurs together to share their experiences and inspire one another. Callaghan Innovation’s Vinnie Campbell says the Māori economy’s biggest strengths have nothing to do with money.This story was funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The ...

Today marks the start of Covering Climate Now. To launch the week, the New Zealand climate change minister, James Shaw, writes an open letter to participants in the School Strike 4 Climate ahead of their day of action later this month.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is thanks to ...

National’s new agriculture spokesperson finds himself in one of the party’s most important portfolios, at a time of dramatically increasing tensions in the sector. Will Todd Muller, a man regularly mentioned as a future leader contender, find common ground?Todd Muller’s obsession with politics began with an American encyclopaedia, which his ...

Miss June’s Bad Luck Party was recorded literally between hospital shifts, and their summer schedule includes both festival dates and their frontwoman’s graduation from medical school. We sat down with the band to ask just how, exactly, they’ve survived so far.The first years of life for Tāmaki Makaurau pop-punk quartet ...

The following four short extracts are from A City Possessed: The Christchurch Child Crèche Case by Lynley Hood, which has just been reprinted by Otago University Press. The book was first published in 2001 and won the Montana Medal for Non-Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. The controversial ...

Hamilton councillors have drawn headlines this year for being anti-science and insensitive to terror victims. At a mayoral debate on Wednesday, there were signs a campaign for change is gathering force.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click ...

The Spinoff editor writes on the story that has engulfed NZ politics this week.One of the very few positive things to come out of a hideous week in New Zealand politics has been the sieving-out of the blinkered, partisan zealots. On one side, those who are ready to conjure up ...

In June 2018, Rawinia Higgins was appointed chairperson of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. She’s the first female and the first te reo Māori second-language speaker to hold the role, and during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, she sat down with The Spinoff to talk about her ...

Compulsory New Zealand history in schools is an exciting opportunity but it’s crucial we’re critical of the stories we tell ourselves, writes Dr Aroha Harris. History is not simply an assemblage of facts and evidence. History is also the interrogation of those things.This may be unsettling news for some, including the ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Senior Research Fellow, Moral philosophy, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University Argument is everywhere. From the kitchen table to the boardroom to the highest echelons of power, we all use argument to persuade, investigate new ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alastair Blanshard, Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics and Ancient History Deputy Head of School, The University of Queensland Comedy often succeeds where tragedy fails. Fangirls, the pop musical which premiered on Thursday night in Brisbane, is not the first drama to explore ...

On the 10th anniversary of the infamous “Imma let you finish” episode, Josie Adams reflects on what this moment revealed about both Taylor Swift and Kanye West.Cast your mind back a decade: 2009 DJ Earworm was still good, Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the US, Israeli ground ...

Analysis - An astounding week in politics has left Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern carrying responsibility for sorting out the mess the Labour Party is in over the sexual assault allegation, writes Peter Wilson. ...

Police Minister Stuart Nash has confirmed details of a new bill that will create a registry of guns, and new offences and penalties for illegal manufacture, trafficking or changing markings of firearms. ...

Charli XCX has just released her latest album, Charli. The futuristic musician is always looking ahead, and so are her fans. We’ve paired each star sign with their perfect Charli XCX song.Charli XCX burst onto the scene in 2012, when she co-wrote and performed electro-pop headbanger ‘I Love It’ with ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benedict Sheehy, Associate professor, University of Canberra British health-care conglomerate Bupa runs more nursing homes in Australia than anyone else. We now know its record in meeting basic standards of care is also worse than any other provider. This is more than ...

Fable is best remembered for the disastrous, over-the-top promises made by its designer Peter Molyneux. But maybe, Adam Goodall argues, we’re remembering it all wrong.“There is something I have to say. And I have to say it because I love making games.” So opens an October 2004 post on the ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Senior Research Fellow, Moral philosophy, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University Argument is everywhere. From the kitchen table to the boardroom to the highest echelons of power, we all use argument to persuade, investigate new ...

The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Native Son: The Writer’s Memoir by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $40)Stand by for a review from ...

Tara Ward delved into Māori TV’s impressive OnDemand catalogue and found some of the best TV taonga for your viewing pleasure. From lifestyle shows to documentaries, from current affairs to reality TV, Māori TV has an abundance of quality telly that celebrates and acknowledges the people, places and cultures of ...

A new poem by London-based poet Morgan Bach.Turning, hurtlingI march diligently to sunshine in the parkeverything bathed and turning golden.A woman breathes fire by the folly framing herlike a personal door to hell. Conkers are pitched from high boughsto break and give up fruit, a spire emergent from the baring ...

Simon Day learns about the history and power of Chinese five-spice. Both the origins of Chinese five-spice and the flavour itself are a little mysterious. My internet investigations revealed the powder’s name could be in reference to the use of five spices (although this often grows to six or seven), or ...

Revelations around alleged sexual assault by a Labour staffer and the party inquiry into his behaviour have dominated the week. Alex Casey and Mihi Forbes join Gone By Lunchtime to survey the damage.Alex Casey, author of the Spinoff feature published on Monday, “A Labour volunteer alleged a violent sexual assault ...

In the fourth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ana Arriola, general manager and partner at Microsoft AI and Research, about ethics and transparency in tech.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To download this ...

Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Labour Party sexual assault allegations Andrea Vance (Stuff): How to make the Labour abuse scandal ...

Toi Kai Rākau Iti, who is running in the Eastern Bay of Plenty Kohi Māori constituency, encounters an unlikely channel of youth engagement.In te ao Māori you’re always looking for tohu, or symbols. They guide you through uncertain territory and help you make sense of the world. The arrival of ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomer Ventura, Senior Lecturer, School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast The creation of all-male or all-female groups of animals, known as monosex populations, has become a potentially useful approach in aquaculture and livestock rearing. Researchers and those in ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University Predictably, both major political parties are resisting calls this week for a parliamentary conscience vote to declare a climate emergency in Australia. The resistance is unsurprising because both the Coalition and Labor ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Shi, Lecturer, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University If the Religious Discrimination Bill passes into law, women may find it harder to get an abortion. That’s because health practitioners with an objection to performing the procedure on religious grounds ...